(C) Jakub Hlavat

This was the title for a talk I went to at the ICA last week, about the human instinct towards storytelling and how we react to stories when we’re overwhelmed by narratives.  And these days, stories are all around us.

Individuals, brands, politics and organisations use stories to construct, distract, disrupt, persuade and position.  Why?  Because everyone loves a good story!  It’s one of the ways we make sense of the world and our place in it.  Stories capture our imagination.  They elicit an emotional response.  Stories can literally make us believe.

But how do you tell a good story if you’re creating it for a brand or a cause?

Keep it real – Use your imagination and creativity (it makes a story interesting), but be authentic.  Remember – a true story is easy to tell, but living a lie is hard work.  To make others believe, you’ve got to believe it yourself.  If your story feels like a good fit, it’s more likely to resonate with your audience.

Tempting timing – With the web and increasingly the mobile web, it’s easy to get your story out there and out there fast.  It can be tempting to get the word out there before your first chapter is finished.  Don’t be the 20-year old Z list celebrity who publishes an autobiography after a year of fame.

Pick the perfect place – Your story is important to you, but imagine you’re one story in a library full of them.  It’s not just how you tell it, it’s where you place it.  Don’t expect a 10-year old child to find your fairytale, if it’s on the shelf with the self-help books.  It sounds obvious, but it’s crucial.  Is your story suited to a TV appearance, a trade show or Twitter?  It could be all three.  Be aware of where your audience is.

Get people involved – A good story gets great when it’s shared.  When someone hears a story and likes it, they pass it on.  It could be a story about a brand.  It could be a story about a cause.  That story will change when it’s shared, as people make it their own.

Some great stories: Marmite, the Mini Cooper, Band Aid, Barack Obama.

Next time you’re faced with a new product or campaign, consider a story to make people believe.

Consumers are changing their habits – no change there. Right now the credit crunch is making people much more aware of where they’re spending their money, and what they’re getting for it. Impulse buys are on the wane. Charity shops are having trouble staying stocked. We’re also getting greener and more aware of sustainability. More of us are planning summer holidays in the UK rather than going abroad. No surprise when you look at the costs of travelling. UK consumers are spending – but not as much and not in the same ways as before.

For marketers, this is a new challenge. We can’t just say the credit crunch is wrecking my business. Being absolutely honest means looking at how we can change our products to keep consumers interested. For example, it could mean creating a new low-cost menu  or, it could be inventing a product aimed at helping consumers save money like the Owl™, a gadget that tells you just how much money you’re spending on electricity at any given moment.

If anything, the downturn is a test of our creativity, a real opportunity for marketers to take stock of what’s wrong with a business and take steps to make the right changes.

I’d really like to see what the marketing community has to say about this. If you have a good example of how marketing can work to counteract the downturn, now’s the time to share it.